History
A Brief History of the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds….
The history of recordings in Barnstable County dates to 1686. Prior to that date all documents pertaining to land in the area that would become Barnstable County were recorded in Plymouth County. The only towns incorporated at our inception were Barnstable (1639), Eastham (1646), Falmouth (1686), & Sandwich (1639).
The first Register of Deeds was John Lothrop who served from 1686 to his death in 1702. He was followed by William Bassett (1702-1718), John Thacher (1718-1745), Solomon Otis (1746-1770) (cousin to activist Mercy Otis Warren & patriot James Otis, Jr. ), Edward Bacon (1771-1783), Ebenezer Bacon (1783-1810), & Job Davis (1811-1826).
During that period the following towns were incorporated; Brewster (1803), Chatham (1712), Dennis (1793), Harwich (1694), Orleans (1797), Provincetown (1727), Truro (1709), & Wellfleet(1763).
Lothrop Davis (1827-1859) served during the Fire of 1827. The Registry was situated at the time in the County House located a short walk from our present building and across the street from the “Crocker Tavern”. As the story is told, 3 men were playing cards in the tavern on the evening of October 22, 1827. They noticed, across the way, that the County House was on fire. They rushed across the street and worked to rescue as many records as they could. The County House contained the Registry of Probate & Clerk of Courts records in addition to 94 volumes of Registry of Deeds Records. All but one volume was destroyed, Book 61, which sits in a glass display case in the lobby of our building.
As a result of the fire an emergency meeting of the Massachusetts Legislature was held in which a law was passed to address the tremendous loss of records. The Acts of 1828 c. CVIII created separate temporary registries in each of the towns in the County, whose sole role was to act as an ad hoc office of record. The legislation allowed for the re-recording of any deed not more than 40 years old with each town register from March 23,1828 until May 1, 1829. At which point those records would be filed with the Barnstable County Register of Deeds. Those books are known as the Town Books and are available to be viewed online or in person at our facility, they are scanned and indexed as a regular part of our records. The loss of those original records still has an impact today and is a big reason for the high percentage of Land Court properties on Cape Cod.
Frederick Scudder (1860-1874) served as register when Mashpee (1870) was incorporated. He was followed by Smith Hopkins (1874-1876) and Asa Lovell (1877-1886), who served when Bourne (1884) was split off from Sandwich & incorporated as a town.
Andrew Sherman (1886-1906) was Register when Barnstable saw its first Land Court Decree Recorded (1899). He was followed by John Holway (1907-1938), Nathaniel Coleman (1939-1940), Benjamin Sears (1941-1946), Dean S. Sears (1947-1970), Stephen Weekes (1971-1988).
John F. Meade (1989-present) is our current elected Register of Deeds. He is the longest serving register in Barnstable County’s history and has overseen the transition into the digital age. When he took office in 1989, he undertook measures to streamline operations. By 1999 all registry records were in computer format and book images scanned and stored electronically. Over the years he has worked to make the Barnstable registry one of the most efficient and cost-effective registries in the Commonwealth. Electronic filing was introduced in 2014 and paved the way for our ability the handle the wave of real estate activity that arose due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Of the over 36,500+ record books & of the 1.5+ million Land Court documents, 30,000+ books & over 1 million Land Court Documents have been recorded during his time as Register.
